Which 14 states and the District of Columbia do not require ID to vote in person, and where can their current statutes be read?
Executive summary
Fourteen states plus the District of Columbia are commonly reported as not requiring voters to present documentary identification when voting in person, a classification found in multiple election-law trackers [1] and summarized by national compilations such as the National Conference of State Legislatures and Ballotpedia [2] [3]. The precise list of which states meets that description can vary across sources because many states allow alternatives—affidavits, provisional ballots, vouching, or exemptions—that functionally let some voters cast ballots without documentary ID [3] [4].
1. What the reporting actually says about the “14 states + D.C.” claim
Multiple authoritative aggregators use the same headline figure—14 states plus Washington, D.C.—as places that do not require documentary ID at the polling place, with Movement Advancement Project explicitly categorizing “No ID required” as 14 states + D.C. [1] and several media summaries repeating that framing [5] [4]. Ballotpedia and the NCSL present complementary counts—roughly 35–36 states require some form of ID while the remainder do not—but both stress that the legal picture is full of exceptions and procedural workarounds that affect whether a voter actually must present physical ID on Election Day [3] [2].
2. Why lists differ: statutory exceptions, affidavits, vouching and nursing‑home rules
The headline number conceals a tangle of statutory details: Ballotpedia reports that 16 states permit an affidavit in lieu of ID, seven allow vouching by election officials or other voters, and several exempt residents of licensed care facilities from ID rules—mechanisms that blur a strict require/does‑not‑require binary [3]. News organizations and state compilations repeatedly warn that a state labeled “no ID required” may still impose steps—affidavits, provisional ballots, or post‑election verification—for voters who arrive without documentation [5] [6].
3. Why a definitive list of the 14 states cannot be claimed from the provided excerpts alone
The reporting compiled here reliably establishes the existence of a 14‑state + D.C. category, but the excerpts supplied do not publish the exact roster of states in that category; therefore a specific list cannot be authoritatively asserted from these sources alone without consulting their full, up‑to‑date pages [1] [3] [4]. Ballotpedia and NCSL are cited repeatedly for the underlying data and changes through 2025–2026 [3] [2] [7], and Movement Advancement Project displays a map that encodes the “No ID” classification [1], but the snippets provided here stop short of listing each state.
4. Where to read the current statutes and authoritative summaries
To verify which states currently do not require ID at the polls and to read the controlling statutes: consult (a) the National Conference of State Legislatures’ voter‑ID page for state summaries and statutory citations [2], (b) Ballotpedia’s state pages and its “Voter identification laws by state” compilation, which includes links to statutory language and administrative rules [3], and (c) the Movement Advancement Project’s in‑person voting map for a rapid visual crosswalk of state categories [1]. For practical guidance and frequent updates aimed at voters, USA.gov and Vote.org maintain state‑by‑state explainers and link to local election officials and state code [8] [9].
5. Political context, reporting agendas and why readers should cross‑check
Coverage of voter ID often carries implicit agendas: proponents argue ID reduces fraud while opponents point to racial and logistical burdens; aggregators and advocacy groups (e.g., MAP, VoteRiders) score states by how easy they make exceptions, which influences the “no ID” label [1] [10]. Major news outlets summarizing the counts sometimes conflate “no ID required” with absolute absence of verification, a simplification that election‑law trackers explicitly warn against [11] [3]. Because laws and administrative rules change frequently, and because many states provide statutory workarounds, readers must consult the primary statutory language or their secretary of state’s office for a legally authoritative answer [2] [3].